Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) continued his strong start to the 2018 season as he landed stage 2 of Paris-Nice in a bunch finish in Vierzon. The Dutchman picked his way through a chaotic finale and then delivered a powerful finishing effort to claim the win ahead of Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors), while André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) took third.
Groenewegen showed considerable patience as Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) went from distance on the slightly rising finishing straight, and then produced a ferocious acceleration to overhaul the Irishman. Viviani and Greipel both closed in the final 50 metres, but they simply ran out of road against Groenewegen.
"I'm feeling very good, but the team is also very strong," said Groenewegen. "They did a very good job in the final. There was a small climb in the end but I survived and I was able to sprint for the win."
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Though well marshalled by his Groupama-FDJ team and Ramon Sinkeldam in particular, yellow jersey Arnaud Démare could only manage 5th on the stage behind Phil Bauhaus (Sunweb). The Frenchman did, however, extend his overall lead to 7 seconds over Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) after picking up three bonus seconds at the first intermediate sprint.
The stage was a rather slow-burning affair as a headwind proved an impediment to early attackers and ensured the race reached Vierzon some way behind the slowest predicted schedule, though the finale was not without incident.
Of particular note was the form of Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors), who underscored his GC ambitions by sneaking off the front to pick up a bonus second at the second intermediate sprint with 15km remaining, having already collected two bonus seconds earlier in the stage.
How it unfolded
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/paris-nice-2018/stage-2/results
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